


Light 'em up

by draculeanbride



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, short fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:00:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculeanbride/pseuds/draculeanbride
Summary: The reader is a skilled soldier and assassin who proved out to be the best in the Hyperion corporation, only to raise Jack's interest for a possible plan he has in regards to destroying the Vault Hunters and the Crimson Raiders.
Relationships: Handsome Jack (Borderlands)/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Light 'em up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Timeslug](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Timeslug/gifts).



> Hi everyone! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLIE LIGHT OF MY LIFE @The_Timeslug I've written this fic for her, she deserves the world and everyone needs to know.  
> It's only going to be a two parts story 'cause unfortunately I'm not able to write more than this as of now buuuut I hope you all appreciate it!  
> Any feedback, good or bad, is always appreciated!  
> Reminder that I'm not an English native speaker so I apologize for any grammar mistakes. Enjoy!!!

The train exploded in a loud crash which bruised most of the Vault Hunters except yourself, as you carefully jumped off the train before everyone else did. Maya, Axton, Salvador and – what was the other guy’s name again? Well, it didn’t matter to you. They all managed to survive, much to your disappointment, and stood in the snow while trying to cover up their wounds.

You were not one of the good guys. Well, not in their perspective anyway. Living on Helios most of your life, training to become a great soldier after your parents’ insistence, you successfully managed to become someone important in the Hyperion corporation. You were not really amused with what you did for a living – sure, having to blow up bad guys was not entirely annoying but you had other aspirations in life. That is, before you met the soon-to-be boss of yours.

Handsome Jack, the great Hyperion CEO, had noticed your progress. He had realised how great you were at hiding and shooting from a distance without the enemies seeing you or sensing your presence. Stealth was your greatest weapon after all and you could take down so much as 10 people without getting a single bullet shot in your way. Speed, silence and precision were your top skills and Handsome Jack needed someone like you to carry out his masterplan to overcome Pandora. He had called you to his office one day, much to your surprise, and suddenly that monotonous, tedious life you led started changing its course.

_You stepped into the tall doors of Handsome Jack’s office as they closed behind you. You walked forward, gazing at the fountains on the sides, the beautiful view of space coming through the big windows and the elegance of the office which made you stop for a bit, wandering your eyes around to take a good look at the place._

_“Don’t just stand there, kiddo, come over here.” a playful yet assertive voice called out to you from the desk at the end of the stairs. You cleared your throat nervously as you followed that deep soothing sound and you ended up confronting Hyperion CEO in his rather charming figure. You weren’t really sure of what to say – you knew very well about Jack’s way of dealing with things and people in general, which scared you in some ways as you didn’t want to screw everything up. Jack noticed your silence, being quite amused at your shyness, and smirked a little while raising his left eyebrow. The heterochromia of his eyes along with his bold stare and his overall confidence made your mind go elsewhere for a second. He was a lot better-looking than the posters hanging around Helios made him out to be._

_“Did the cat eat your tongue, cupcake?” he asked jokingly, placing his hands on his desk as he stood up to reach your level. “I mean, I know I can be quite menacing in my appearance but I won’t throw you out of the airlock. Not yet, anyway.” he winked, waiting to see your response. You were just a toy for him to play with. As a shudder ran through you as you heard that subtle threat of his, you decided you didn’t want to let him win over you. You were not THAT scared of him anyways and you didn’t want to give off the impression that you were a coward of some sort. You were a murderous killing machine, after all. That’s why he called for you in the first place._

_“Good morning, sir. Sorry for my silence, I was distracted wondering about what this call could be about. I’m all ears and ready for action, sir.” you blurted out, not sure if that kind of thing was what he wanted to hear from you. He was really hard to read, you felt like he was making a fool out of you while also demanding for you to be as professional as possible. After your statement, Jack widened his stare on you just to end up laughing out loud while putting a hand on his forehead in disbelief._

_“My God ‘soldier’, cut the ‘sir’ crap. That was soooooo bad, pumpkin. I’m not your colonel or something. That was funny though.” he giggled while keeping his eyes locked onto yours. “And cute. You’re cute, you know that? Just call me Jack, I hate being called names ‘round here. Only the useless people get to call me sir and if you made it up here, you’re certainly not one of them now, are you?” he added, crossing his arms to his chest. You tilted your head up to confront him more seriously; although it proved to be quite difficult after the pet names he gave you and the playfulness in his attitude. It was weird, scary and fascinating at the same time._

_“I guess so, sir— Jack. I still haven’t figured what all of this is about.” you repeated abruptly, trying to control your eyes switching from his haunting eyes to his inviting lips._ Goddamn it, Y/N, stop being so obvious and avoid falling for the man’s spell. Get a hold of yourself. _you thought silently, biting the inner side of your lower lips._

_“Alright, alright, I should get to the point.” he continued, seemingly disappointed for having to get to the serious part. “I called you in ‘cause I’ve been following your progress, kiddo. Latest missions were a huge success, to say the least, mostly thanks to your sniping and hiding abilities. Now I don’t know how you manage to pull all of that off, in all honesty, but you do. And you’re the only one out of all the douchebags that work for me who seriously impressed me. And that doesn’t happen often. So yeah, this is your opportunity to amuse me even more.” he grinned while shifting his position to a more comfortable one. He sat on his chair, which was very throne-like, and gestured vaguely to tell you to sit on the ones placed in front of the desk. As you proceeded doing that, Jack took some papers out of the desk drawers and handed them over to you before asking you to pay attention._

_“You’ll have time to read that crap later, sweetheart. I’m gonna cut it short. I’m planning a mission to save that shithole of a planet named Pandora, as you’re probably aware of. In order to do so, though, I have to destroy all the possible opponents which are, quite frustratingly, more than you can imagine. Now, I’m already trying to take some Vault Hunters out of the picture but there are… Some people, those laaaaame Crimson Raiders, who are going to be very hard to get rid of. And that’s when you come into action.” Jack stated with an ounce of excitement in his voice._ _You had noticed how he felt about ‘those people’ as soon as he mentioned their name in such a vilifiying tone. The idea of having someone taking care of them in a bad way made him feel… Happy. Or so you gathered from his looks. That was going to turn up pretty interesting, you thought to yourself._

_“So… Let me get this straight. You think I’m your best shot at getting those dudes killed?” you asked, unsure of yourself. How could it be only you? Taking down some people who were clearly a pain in Jack’s ass? He pondered for a bit at your comment then raised a brow, again._

_“Cupcake, I don’t think you understand here. I called you for the job ‘cause I know you can get it done. Wanna know why? Because you’re going to be the mole. You are gonna fool those losers, find their weak spots, pass the information over to me and – BOOM. We get ‘em killed, get what we came for, be the rulers of this planet and aaaaall those to come next. You followin’ me pumpkin?”_

_The way Jack looked at you while bluntly telling you you were going to be doing an inside job for THE Hyperion CEO made you feel somewhat important. More than you had ever felt like, in all truthfulness. The idea of doing something different, for once, made you feel kind of excited the same way he was about the situation. He noticed the change of expression in your face and he smirked to himself, moving forward so that his profile was closer to yours for a few inches. “What say you, sweetheart? You in?” he whispered wickedly, grinning in a way that made you weak for a second or two._ _You were sure he was not gonna make you able to refuse the job – he had maaaany convincing ways to get the people he picked do what he wanted them to. But you needed no convincing, you were already sold. You questioned your morals for a while, deciding to leave the thinking to later, when you were going to be alone in your room pondering the real nature of this decision._

_“I’m in.”_

So, that was how you began working personally for Handsome Jack. He didn’t seem interestd in getting to know you better but he treated you in a privileged way, compared to his other workers. He probably wanted you to succeed the best way possible and didn’t really mind your personality on its own but it felt nice, nevertheless.

As you witnessed the other Vault Hunters talking to a weird funny robot who pressured them into following him to his ‘cave’, you stayed behind on purpose so you could tell Jack what was going on. You paid specific attention so that the others couldn’t hear you talking and you went over on the ECHO to let Jack know about the survival of the true Vault Hunters. His voice in response was quite angry at the event but still, he had to be prepared for any inconvenience. This was a real battle to come and it sure wasn’t going to be an easy job to carry out.

“Listen to me, Y/N. You gotta blend in with them, even if they are a bunch of stinky losers. Play the part, get angry at my comments – ‘cause boy am I going to make them regret their sole existence – and don’t be suspicious. I’ll make sure to give you the instructions later on.” he asserted before shutting off. It was going to be a wild ride, you were sure of that.

**\------ Some days later, after saving** ~~**that disgusting wench (or so Jack called her)**~~ **Lilith in Frostburn Canyon**

“Thanks for saving me, Vault Hunters. I’ll reach you up at Sanctuary, we’re all going to meet there to settle this mess.” stated the Firehawk with a hopeful smile. Her short fiery hair waved as she greeted you goodbye, and you saw Lilith disappear in the void, surrounded by a purple ray of light.

_Ugh_ , you thought to yourself while reloading your sniper rifle. Teaming up with the bad guys, as necessary as it was in order to discover their secrets, was not really amusing to you. Maya and the others (her name was the only one you could possibly remember) started going forward in the path leading to the nearest Fast Travel Station. You played along avoiding their comments as much as possible, and kept to yourself. They probably had started thinking of you as a loner who wasn’t really interested in talking to people but luckily they didn’t feel like something was off, or so you thought. _Boy, how wrong they are_.

The next step to fulfill Lilith’s dumb request was to reach Bloodshot Stronghold but they came up with the great idea to get back to Sanctuary first, in order to gather some strength before the fight. This was the perfect moment to take advantage of the situation and return to Jack’s to tell him the upcoming news.

As you all reached the Fast Travel Station, Maya engaged you in a conversation – she was eager to make you fit into the group – as you agreed to the idea of reaching Sanctuary first. You were going to make them travel, leave you last and not see you back on Sanctuary as they went on. You would have come up with an explanation later on, not too worried of what they might have thought of the situation. _If only Maya wasn’t so damn interested in me, it would be a lot easier_. One by one they started disappearing on the Fast Travel as you were the only one left behind. You smirked to yourself and notified Jack over on your ECHO to let him know you were going back to report. As soon as you clicked your destination mark you felt a sudden sting of pain on your right shoulder but you didn’t have time to reflect on it as you materialized on another place.

Seeing the Helios station in its comforting and welcoming colours made you feel at home. Pandora sure was hard to get accustomed to and there were times when you actually regretted being part of the plan. Bandits, skags, danger at all times, stupid people trying to befriend you… Ugh. But then you remembered why you did all of that and how determined you were to endure for the sake of… Well, many things. But you never really managed to hide the one true thing which wasn’t willing to let go of your mind. _You’re doing it for Jack and you damn well know it by now. Falling for a psychopath? Seriously Y/N?_ You were aware of the fact that your chances were really low, but… a girl can dream, right?

You started reaching the elevator that would have gotten you to Jack’s office as the pain in your shoulder got sharper and felt like a piercing sting through your flesh. What the hell was that? You correctly entered the password to reach the office through the elevator and as you walked in you brought a hand to your shoulder to understand what the hell was going on. The doors opened in front of you as you reached the designated floor while the realisation of being shot made you stand still in disbelief. How did you not notice that before? Sure, the adrenaline kicked in quite suddenly after you found yourself surrounded with a horde of bandits but really? You just now felt the bullet’s press on your burning skin?

You rolled your eyes mumbling curse words to yourself as you walked through the corridor to reach the office’s doors. Jack’s secretary gave you a confused look as she had not been updated on your visit but she let you in quickly, opening the entrance for you to meet up with your boss.

“There’s my faaaaavourite Hyperion worker! Hi kiddo, missed seeing you ‘round here.” Jack shouted with an entertained voice while walking up towards you, his white long shirt hanging loosely from his hips as he came closer. “So, any news from the ugly Crimson Raid—wait a minute are you hurt?”

His expression suddenly changed from playful to worried as he noticed the stream of blood slowly staining the fabric of your clothings. “Why the hell did you not cure yourself? JANET, BRING SOME HEALTH-VIALS AT ONCE” he screamed to his secretary without even considering talking through the ECHO. His voice was so loud he was sure she would have gotten it without hesitation. You wondered why he got a sudden interest to your health; it was probably related to the fact that you were not replaceable for the job and your death meant his plan’s failure as well. There was something in his eyes though – and the fact that it was really not a dangerous wound – that made you question his true intentions. Jack was still a mystery to you, but the more you found out about him, the more you craved to know.

“Sorry Jack I didn’t even realise I was hurting, I was so busy shooting the bad guys that I—“

“And what about your stealth abilities? Were you not trained to stay far from the action?” he interrupted, while frantically grabbing the vials that Janet swiftly brought about.

“It was a sort of ambush, Jack. As soon as we realised what was going on they started shooting at us. Didn’t give me much of a choice, to be honest with you. It’s only a bruise anyway, it’s not that bad! I’m not dying, you know.” you sighed making eye-contact with him so as to make sure he understood there was no reason to act like that in the first place. The health-vial started kicking in as the skin surrounding the bullet became less red and irritated and the blood stopped flowing. Jack looked at you with a disoriented expression, as if he was pondering what just had happened. He cleared his throat, throwing the used vial in the trash can, and he crossed his arms, tilting his head upwards ever so slightly.

“Whatever. I can’t lose my best soldier out there, ya know? Replacing you with someone else would be too dangerous and would raise suspicions. Anyways, now that you’re better, tell me what’s up. I don’t think we’re gonna have much time, you need to get back out there.” he declared in a more serious tone, while gazing up and down your body in a not-so-subtle way. His behaviour was cryptic and you tried your best to get your mind around to it but he was right: you didn’t have much time to waste. Though it felt nice to be taken care of, if only in such a small gesture.

You proceeded explaining to him what Lilith’s plan was, where they were headed next and what they wanted to do once they finally managed to release Roland. Jack listened carefully, his bold stare locking onto your lips as you spoke, then revised his options to understand the better way to act next. You two talked for a while, pondering the possibilities of your plan, and you saw Jack swift back to his usual self – joking, teasing, calling you pet names and finally deciding the course of action.

“Alright pumpkin now you go back out there and show them you’re suuuuper innocent and whatnot. Do as they say and stick to our plan. I’m sure it’ll turn out for the best, unless Lilith comes up with some other fucked up idea that will make me eager to kill her even more than I do now. You can go now, cupcake. We’ll keep in touch.”

He made sure to explain the details of the mission before letting you go and you started walking towards the exit as he suddenly called your name with a hesitant tone of voice. You turned around, confused once again, and waited for his remark.

“Just… Be careful out there will ya?”


End file.
